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Sea change for Michigan marijuana comes amidst industry chaos

Licensed medical marijuana growers say they can’t compete with the untested, unregulated weed being sold to dispensaries by caregivers, who have been allowed to sell commercially while the market gets on its feet. Green Peak Innovations, the largest grower in the state, called on the state to require dispensaries buy only tested product from licensed growers. In this photo from late April, marijuana flower grows in Green Peak’s Lansing facility. (Bridge photo by Riley Beggin)

LANSING — The CEO of Michigan’s largest medical marijuana grow operation sat in a sleek, glass-walled conference room reminiscent of San Francisco tech giants near Lansing Tuesday. The state’s marijuana industry, he said grimly, is at a breaking point.

“Dystopia is right now,” said Jeff Radway.

His company, Green Peak Innovations, has stockpiled 2,000 pounds of cannabis it can’t sell because dispensaries are still allowed to purchase marijuana grown by caregivers that’s largely untested and cheap, he said, noting some of it has been found to contain contaminants such as e. coli, salmonella, pesticides and mold.

The next day the company held a rally on the steps of the state Capitol building, urging lawmakers to stop regulators from continuing to extend the deadline that would require around 50 unlicensed dispensaries to close and require all licensed dispensaries to purchase weed exclusively from the state’s licensed growers.

Caregiver and patient protestors met the company, jeering and carrying signs with Radway’s face on it. “Jeff Radway hates children & the elderly,” read one. Companies like Green Peak don’t make the specialized cannabis products their loved ones need to treat conditions like autism or Crohn’s disease, they said, and if the state stops the flow of caregiver weed before more variety is available, they’d be left without medicine.

Protestors Stevie Cuttitta and Julie Loukas said they both have children who rely on specialized marijuana products they’ve only been able to find at dispensaries buying from caregivers. The market supply “has to be diverse enough that it serves everybody,” Cuttitta said. (Bridge photo by Riley Beggin)

The conflict is emblematic of the many unresolved issues simmering within Michigan’s evolving weed market as the industry, and the people who rely on that industry, prepare for a series of major changes to regulations.

One sea change occurs at the end of this month, when medical marijuana oversight changes hands from a controversial board appointed by former Gov. Rick Snyder to the new Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA), headed by current Bureau of Marijuana Regulation director Andrew Brisbo.

At the final board meeting of the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Board Thursday, Chairman Rick Johnson voted for a motion to approve all 92 pre-qualification applicants at once in exasperation with the potential coming changes to the licensing process. “It kind of makes you wonder why we’ve been here at all,” he said. The motion failed.

The MRA, meanwhile, inherits a tumultuous market rife with unanswered questions. In addition to the ongoing tension between licensed growers and caregivers seeking a spot in the market, it’s unclear when unlicensed dispensaries will be forced to comply with state rules or shutter. The industry is holding its breath waiting for a May 1 decision from a Court of Claims judge or for a Republican-sponsored bill to make its way to the governor’s desk.

That’s not to mention an impending December deadline to issue rules for the state’s new recreational marijuana market, nor the hundreds of applications for medical marijuana licenses or pre-qualifications the state is still processing.

“Things are not settled at all,” said Matthew Abel, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and a cannabis lawyer.

He said the government — both former Gov. Snyder and the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, which has continued to change rules and first oversaw the medical marijuana licensing process — are to blame for the system’s continuing chaos.

“It was built piecemeal,” Abel said. “And that’s the mess we’re left with.”

A new licensing process

At the close of the final hours-long licensing board meeting, a former dispensary owner who said he went to prison for operating without a license, Don Koshmider, stepped up to the microphone.

“I’m certainly not a hater (of those who have been licensed), but I do believe racketeering has taken place” under the board’s purview, he said, adding that he believes mom-and-pop shops and people of color have been targeted in the licensing process.

His was a common refrain throughout the board’s nearly two-year-long tenure, which often clashed with industry proponents for tough and sometimes seemingly inconsistent screening. Board members, such as former drug enforcement cop Don Bailey, argued it was necessary to ensure future licensees comply with state laws.

The Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Board, which was appointed by former Gov. Rick Snyder, had their last meeting Thursday. Industry advocates celebrated the closure of the board, which they said slowed licensure and unfairly denied applications. (Bridge photo by Riley Beggin)

Industry leaders lauded the change and say they expect that the new system will speed the pace of licensing by integrating the analysis and decision-making within the new marijuana agency. Most board members disagree, saying the thorough scope of each application is to blame for the delays. LARA spokesman David Harns said the agency is now processing license applications as they come in — a far cry from former backlogs of hundreds of applications.

Among the well-wishers for the industry’s future was Chairman Rick Johnson, the last person to speak at the meeting. While he’s said the board was dedicated to helping the industry get on its feet, he expressed hope that the market will flourish under the new regulatory process.

“The biggest reason I’m here is (marijuana) really has helped two members of my family. Unfortunately, one’s not with us anymore,” Johnson said, choking back tears. He covered his face with his hands and paused before looking up.

“Keep doing what you’re doing because those are the people that need to be helped.”

Hanging in the balance

While one of the most controversial elements of the state’s licensing system exits, medical marijuana patients, caregivers and business owners are staring down continuing chaos in an industry that has operated in limbo for months.

While some marijuana business owners pay hundreds of thousands of dollars and undergo a rigorous licensing process, others continue to operate unlicensed. A limited number of licensed growers test and process their product for contaminants while caregivers — originally authorized only to sell to a handful of medical marijuana patients under the 2008 law — sell untested product to dispensaries that struggle to meet demand.

Patients must sign a waiver acknowledging there may be chemicals such as arsenic or mercury in their untested weed before buying, and multiple batches have been recalled.

The date by which the market must be fully regulated — all product tested, bought from licensed growers and sold by licensed dispensaries — keeps shifting, as patient advocates argue they would be cut off from the products they rely on in the transition.

Harns, the LARA spokesman, said the department has not heard any reports yet of patients getting sick from caregiver product. Abel, of NORML, said requiring all caregiver product be tested too quickly will create a bottleneck, preventing marijuana from reaching patients.

“I think it’s desirable that it all be tested,” Abel said. “But I’ve been smoking untested marijuana for 45 years, so I think it’s a little late for the government to be so concerned about it now for my health. I appreciate that, but where the hell have they been?”

Two outstanding decisions in the judicial and legislative branches may change all that.

A House bill that would require unlicensed dispensaries to come in line with state regulations by June 1 passed out of a Senate committee on Thursday morning after passing 102 to 4 in the House.

Douglas Mains, a cannabis lawyer at the Honigman law firm, said he wrote the bill. The goal, he said, is to ensure that unlicensed facilities are playing by the same rules as licensed dispensaries. That includes participating in the state’s seed-to-sale tracking system and eschewing gray market delivery services as they await licensure.

“There’s rumors out there that some of these unlicensed stores, because they don’t have to say where they’re getting their product, are getting it from other states where it’s cheaper to buy as opposed to licensees who are generally getting it from growers or caregivers here,” Mains said.

The bill will be racing with an incoming decision from a Court of Claims judge who issued a restraining order in late March to keep unlicensed dispensaries open past what was then a March 31 deadline. The cases the court is considering involve unlicensed dispensaries whose applications were denied by the state licensing board for invalid reasons and have not yet been reconsidered through the appeals process. A spokesman for the Michigan Supreme Court said the decision will now come on May 1.

However, it’s not clear which one will supersede the other if the House bill and the judge’s decision conflict, said Mains.

Neither decision may determine how long caregivers will still be allowed to sell to dispensaries since the state decided to look the other way in December. Harns said the department will continue to do so until “further order of the court.”

Both Abel and Mains said there’s no clear consensus on the role caregivers will be able to play in the medicinal market. The debate has “now been embroiled in some inflammatory rhetoric,” Mains said of the “patients versus profits” dichotomy, such as that outlined by the Green Peak protestors.

Johnson, the licensing board chairman, echoed the discontent many parties say they feel looking to the future — whether they support extending the semi-regulated market or shutting it down. Johnson said he is squarely in the latter camp.

“It's really not fair,” Johnson said. “Now we've licensed enough people, and if they can't figure out how to get together and work together to make this a better program, shame on them.”

Once a frontier town dominated by agriculture, Morenci now finds itself on a new frontier, with the scent of pot wafting through its streets. Despite reluctance from “conservative farm folks,” most support the financial boost the industry has brought.

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Thu, 04/25/2019 - 10:42pm

The whole situation is ridiculous and confusing, I would imagine many people will forget about all this red tape and either just grow it themselves whether legal or not or just buy it on the black market.

Caregivers should have their products tested too! As a caregiver, I have mine tested at The Spott in Kalamazoo! All sales should be tested, and "big industry" shouldn't be allowed to monopolize this medicine either!

The whole "Caregiver industry" should be revamped. The way I see it, anyone can say they are a caregiver, just to be able to grow a large amount of pot. One person would not be able to smoke 1 whole plant in a year! Why the need to grow 12 per person? What makes them even qualified to be a "Caregiver" to dispense (pot) medicine? Do they go to school (like a person who wants to become a Dr. or a Lawyer or a Pharmacist etc... ?) Also, I am disgusted with the terrible smell from the grow houses in the neighborhood. Have some common courtesy for others who don't want to smell the SKUNK CRAP SMELL in their neighborhood!! If you are going to grow, cover up the nasty smell!!! It is pretty bad when you try to go for a walk on a nice day and walk down the street and turn the corner only to smell the stench, daily. Have some respect for other's . Don't light up at the park where people are trying to enjoy a day with their family. Don't take a hit off a joint and then go into your bank and try to make a transaction and act stupid (cause your high). Don't go to pay your cable bill with the nasty stench on your breath cause you just took a toke from a joint before you stepped out of your vehicle. No one wants to smell your NASTY stench. Brush your teeth and take a shower and change your clothes before you present yourself to the public... Or better yet, stay away from the public until you get Marijuana Manners!!!!

I will not use any dispensaries to acquire weed anymore. Commercial marijuana sucks. Green peak called on the state to sell tested blah blah it all was simply a ploy to push out the caregivers and force dispensaries to purchase their crummy commercial marijuana that in I’m sure a lot of people’s opinions sucks. That company is a joke. Before you go in to a dispensary people, ask if they carry and products from Green Peak. Those that do carry any of their product won’t ever get any of my business. Support the caregivers. Hope Green Peak gets shut down for a violation. They are to big for there to not be any. I as a voter call on the state of Michigan to look into that!!! Lol Just voicing my opinion on how corporate grown marijuana is not in best interest of the patients. Only interest served is on the investors behalf.